This was something of a marquee Hudson River Derby, maybe the last one ever played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the only Major League Soccer match on the schedule on a Friday night, and with a few soccer luminaries in Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola in attendance.
New York City FC didn't play up to that kind of occasion despite hosting, and despite their recent success against Red Bull New York, instead losing 1-0 on a self-inflicted goal and after failing to score any of their own despite finding plenty of opportunities.
In front of an announced crowd of 29,270 in the Bronx, NYCFC fell back on a few of the bad habits the club has developed this season, ones that have them in this position, below the playoff qualification line now with eight games to play.
They did little to nothing to create chances while controlling possession early in the match, missed a few great chances that did pop up early in the second half, then watched as one of their key defensive players made an individual mistake that led directly to the decisive goal for the Red Bulls.
"It is very tough to take this goal because I think we played well enough to get the win tonight with the chances we created. But when you make a mistake like that, it's gonna get tougher in order to get yourself back on top," said Pascal Jansen in his post-match press conference following the loss.
Matthew Mangam
'That's unacceptable'
James Sands was the one to make the mistake, and it was significant, a mishit, badly under-hit back pass that let Julian Hall get a clean break in on Matt Freese and the NYCFC goal, which Hall took advantage of to give the Red Bulls their win and the Hudson River Derby Trophy after an unbeaten regular season against NYCFC.
